If the Philadelphia Flyers are saying that they need more from Daniel Briere - and they obviously do - they can't say the same about their defence corps.
Think about the valiant effort by the five men on the Flyers blueline in Philly's 4-2 loss on Sunday night. They already lost Kimmo Timonen for the series with a blood clot. But on just his second shift of the game, Braydon Coburn went down after taking a puck to the face.
The rest of the crew really stepped up, especially soon-to-be-36-year-old Derian Hatcher. This guy was a stud out there.
It's extremely hard for Hatcher because he is such a 'wide body' out there. He's certainly not one of these new age NHL players. But Hatcher blocked shots and he had plenty of hits in Game 2. Granted, he took a couple of penalties and was playing a little bit too 'old school' at times. And he also got beaten on what turned out to be the winning goal - he couldn't get the puck out of the zone after Steve Downie couldn't dump it out either.
But at the end of the night, Hatcher played more minutes than any other Philadelphia player - a prime example of the heroic effort by the Flyers' defence. They were almost able to steal a win in Game 2, thanks in large part because guys like Hatcher who stepped up and played the game of their lives.
Moving On
The best way to describe the National Hockey League's decision not to suspend Dallas Stars centre Mike Ribeiro and Detroit Red Wings goaltender can best be described as, 'No harm, no foul.'
The NHL does not like the fact that a goaltender is trying to butt-end a player as he's skating by, or that the player who was butt-ended comes back with a two-handed chop across the goalie's chest. But there were no significant injuries stemming from their altercation on Saturday night.
Also, a lot of people thought is was distasteful that that Osgood fell down and tried to sell the slash as much as he did. But when all was said and done, the players involved - along with Stars forward Steve Ott for his punch on Detroit's Kris Draper - were fined.
People thought there should have at least been a suspension to Ribeiro becuase of the apparent viciousness nature of his slash. But if you're going to suspend one guy, you have to suspend the other guy as well.
And in the Stanley Cup playoffs, no one wants to lose a player.